Soviet and Russian Testbed Aircraft

In both Soviet and modern Russia a multitude of aircraft have been used for test and research purposes. Primarily this was done for verifying new avionics, aircraft systems and weaponry but testbed aircraft were also utilised for other purposes including testing the components of ballistic missile systems. Encompassing test aircraft from the 1930s to the present day, Soviet and Russian Testbed Aircraft provides an unique insight into how test articles including ramjet boosters and air-launched cruise missiles were developed, the aircraft that carried them and the test centres they flew from.

Soviet and Russian Testbed Aircraft investigates all categories of test and research aircraft: engine testbeds including the Il-76LL and Tu-16LL; radar testbeds such as the SL-18P based on the well-known Il-18 airliner; electronic warfare system testbeds and those used for weapons testing including the G-310; aerodynamics and control configured vehicles like the DB-3LL laminar flow research aircraft and the LMK-2405. The Su-29KS and An-12MLL ejection seat testbeds, refuelling systems, helicopters modified as rotor systems testbeds and civil aircraft including the An-12BPTs ’Tsiklon’ weather research aircraft and IMARK geophysical survey aircraft are described as are the MiG-27LL and MiG-29KVP aircraft used for testing conventional take-off and landing technologies during the Soviet CTOL aircraft carrier development programme.

Comprehensive details of each aircraft are coupled with information on the test centres from which these testbeds operate including the M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovskiy, and the Air Force’s 929th State Flight Test Centre in Akhtoobinsk.

With over 700 photographs, 72 line drawings, close-up views of tell-tale ’bumps and bulges’ and more than 100 new colour profiles to illustrate the aircraft, Soviet and Russian Testbed Aircraft provides a wealth of new information for the historian, aviation enthusiast and modeller alike.